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French finish Pierce reaches her fifth final of the year
Posted: Saturday October 30, 1999 02:03 PM
LINZ, Austria (Reuters) -- Top seed Mary Pierce will face Sandrine Testud in the final of the Linz tournament after their victories on Saturday in the first all-French semifinal since the WTA tour was founded in 1971. Pierce beat fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo 7-5 6-3 while fifth seed Testud had little trouble eliminating unfancied Sara Pitkowski 6-4 6-2. Pierce and Testud have met four times in the past with the latter having failed to win even a set against the 1995 Australian Open champion. For Pierce, who made the semifinal with wins over Austria's Sylvia Plischke and Romanian Irina Spirlea, Sunday's match is her fifth final of the year. However, the winner of 12 tournaments is still chasing a maiden 1999 title. "I'm looking forward to tommorrow. I take things match to match and don't care whether a compatriot is standing on the other side of the net or not," said Pierce. For Testud, a winner of two WTA tournaments, in Palermo in 1997 and Filderstadt in 1998, the victory marks her first entry into a final this year. Testud, who reached the semifinal by beating yet another Frenchwoman, third seed Nathalie Tauziat, was pleased with her hard court showing. "Today, I played well enough to win. I'm happy with my tennis this week and look forward to the final," said Testud.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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